According
to hundreds of eyewitnesses, a painting of Jesus is weeping red tears.
The painting is no ordinary icon for it hangs in the Bethlehem Church
of the Nativity, above the very spot where Christ is said to have
been born.

Many hundreds of
Christian pilgrims, of all denominations, together with Jews and Muslims,
say they have seen the tears. The weeping was first noticed by the 60
year old Muslim woman who cleans that part of the church every morning.

Sadika
Hamdan told reporters that she was working alone in the shrine when
suddenly " a light came from the column and the picture of the Messiah
Jesus, peace be upon him, began to cry. It was beautiful, beautiful.
He opened and closed his eye and later tears fell, red tears. At first,
I was very frightened, and I wondered why Jesus was speaking out to
me, a Muslim. But I went and got the brothers, and they saw it too,
and we realised it was a miracle. I have been coming to this church
for 22 years and it is the first time in history that I have seen such
a sight."

At
the time of the report about 600 people were visiting the shrine each
day, and thousands were expected to attend the Sunday services. As well
as the tears, pilgrims have also been reporting that the painting of
Jesus was winking at them. There are of course no shortage of sceptics
dismissing the whole story, but Stephanie Nolen, writing for a Canadian
newspaper, had this to say :

"This
reporter went to Bethlehem armed with the double protection of lapsed
Catholicism and journalistic cynicism, and joined a crowd of about 100
kerchiefed Cypriot women clutching candles and videorecorders. 'Tears,
tears,' they were whispering, some with tears in their own eyes. So
I looked up - and Jesus winked at me."(Source -
Reuter 28 Nov, 1996; The Globe and Mail, Canada, 4 Dec, 1996 ; CNN
)